EBMM New 1-Off Majesties & JP15's

[TSJMajesty]

I check daily for the release of the Baritone model they're supposed to be coming out with soon, and found these models today. Couple of which I would seriously consider, IF THEY COULD GET THEIR SHIT TOGETHER WITH THE STRINGS BEING CENTERED ON THE NECK!! WTF??

This is stunning, but has that issue:

It's not terrible, but for 6 grand, it needs to be perfect. I mentioned this before, but you can look at ANY PRS model at any price point, and you won't find this issue.

And this one is even worse!

And before anyone says it, it's NOT the camera angle.

This is what a perfectly-aligned one looks like:

Man I wish they'd get this problem under control. I have been looking for either a full Maple top Majesty, or maybe a 7-string, but there's very few examples that I could feel comfortable with ponying up that amount of coin, that don't have this string misalignment issue.

The reason it's such a big deal (other than aesthetics) is that there is very little room between the e strings and where the fret ends start to bevel downward. Again, for sake of comparison, PRS has more room. So when that small amount of room is essentially cut in half, your playing technique needs to be near-perfect, for you to not have problems playing the guitar. I know because I inadvertently bought one years ago. So now I look at them extremely carefully.

I'd love to have that top one!

C'mon Music Man, you really need to do better!

 

[TSJMajesty]

This one also showed up today, and looks to be perfect, but the top and color isn't that appealing to me.

And this Silverburst JP15 looks fine, but I'm not in the market for them, other than the Baritone that is.

And they had this one at JPGU5, which also looks to be good, but it's a girl's color, imo. But still, kinda cool.

 

[laxu]

Man I wish they'd get this problem under control. I have been looking for either a full Maple top Majesty, or maybe a 7-string, but there's very few examples that I could feel comfortable with ponying up that amount of coin, that don't have this string misalignment issue.

The reason it's such a big deal (other than aesthetics) is that there is very little room between the e strings and where the fret ends start to bevel downward. Again, for sake of comparison, PRS has more room. So when that small amount of room is essentially cut in half, your playing technique needs to be near-perfect, for you to not have problems playing the guitar. I know because I inadvertently bought one years ago. So now I look at them extremely carefully.

So what causes the issue? Is the nut not cut for consistent spacing or is the issue at the bridge, or both?

I once wondered if the single saddles on my Skervesen Shoggie 8-string were incorrectly spaced but turns out they are deliberately installed with a bit more spacing for the low strings and getting tighter for the high strings. Explained here: https://skervesen.eu/features/skervesens-string-compensation-system/

 

[TSJMajesty]

So what causes the issue? Is the nut not cut for consistent spacing or is the issue at the bridge, or both?

I don't think it's either. I think it has to do with their process:

They rout for the bridge and drill all the holes before any sealer is applied, and the neck-thru is all one complete piece with the body at this point.

So if that neck moves even just a tiny amount, to the left or the right, between the time all that milling is done, and the finishes applied, the strings will favor one side or the other of the neck. It doesn't take much.

In my professional opinion, being a finish carpenter, they need to figure out what is causing the necks to move before they get locked in with the finishes, or maybe it's an issue with them not drying the guitar properly before the milling step.

It could also be a situation where the moisture content is good at the time the milling is done, but then somehow that moisture content changes before the finish is applied, which allows it to move. It could be something as simple as moving the guitar to a different part of the factory, that doesn't have its humidity levels controlled carefully enough, prior to the finish being applied.

I'm pretty confident in their finishes locking in the position of the neck, because none of my 3 Majesties have ever had any shifting of the strings. I've had some high changes to humidity levels, and they're all the same as when I bought them.

TL;DR:
Imo, something is making those necks move, between the milling and the finishing.

If I was running the show, I'd figure out a method of applying 1 coat of sealer, and then doing all the milling. And then seal it again, right away, because moisture could theoretically enter via those cavities. Try that on a run, and see how they turn out.

 

[metropolis_4]

Man, I get it, that’s a totally valid complaint and if I was spending that kind of money on a guitar I would expect better as well.

But it also makes me so glad I don’t personally care about things like this so I don’t have to spend any time looking for it and being frustrated by it!

I’m sure you and Eagle and others could rip my Gibson LP apart over its flaws, but I’ve never noticed them. To me it’s just a great sounding guitar that I love to play

 

[TSJMajesty]

Man, I get it, that’s a totally valid complaint and if I was spending that kind of money on a guitar I would expect better as well.

But it also makes me so glad I don’t personally care about things like this so I don’t have to spend any time looking for it and being frustrated by it!

I’m sure you and Eagle and others could rip my Gibson LP apart over its flaws, but I’ve never noticed them. To me it’s just a great sounding guitar that I love to play

To be sure, I didn't set out to pick these guitars apart like this. I was playing something that involved pull-offs to open on the high e, and yanked the string off the end of the fret. And I was like, hmmm, that's never happened before. That's when I looked a little closer and found the issue.

And EBMM was willing to warranty it, even though it was already over 1 year old before I noticed it, but I'd have had to ship it to them, let them decide it was a defect (I sent several pics of my guitars with and without this issue, but they refused to agree it was in fact a defect based on them), then wait for months, and possibly get back a guitar that didn't look as nice as mine.

So I opted to live with it.

But I don't want to be playing something on the low B, and accidentally push that string off the frets either. Even that 1st pic is not such a huge deal that most people would even see it, but because the strings just don't have much space between them and the end of the frets, like on a LP for example, it can affect the playability.

Heck, I don't actually give a shit about so-called dead notes on a guitar. I'll just pick the string again. (Really bad ones, that die out immediately, yes.)

But when Petrucci himself touts these as the F1 race car of guitars, they shouldn't have this problem. Heck, Jason Richardson and I were talking at the JP camp, and he even claimed that EBMM makes the best guitars, period. I wish he was right, because other than this, I would tend to agree.